seaprincessesfandomcom-20200213-history
Isa's Gift
Isa's Gift (O Presente de Isa) is a short story written by Fábio Yabu which is available from the official Princesas do Mar website"O Presente de Isa". UOL.com.br. Archived from the original on 2008-03-10. Retrieved 2018-07-08.. The following content on this page has been translated from the original story. Part 1 People always ask me what is different about the Kingdom of Salacia - what the sea creatures do, where they like to go and what they like to eat. Well, you must imagine that living on the seabed is quite different from living on Dryland - the colours, tastes, smells and flavours are different. There is also plenty of wealth and abundance for everyone, so no one goes hungry or cold like in our world. The secret of Salacia’s abundance is not in its wealth - as Dryland is also a place that is full of treasures - but in the sharing. Everyone likes to share what they have, as the Second Law of Salacia says, “Practice good, goodwill and generosity”. No one has too much. The royal families are the ones who should set an example for all the creatures in the sea, so they have a tradition - at Christmas, the families give all the gifts they received the year before to others. Is there a Santa Claus? Yes, of course! In fact, Santa Claus is one of the few who know about the Kingdom of Salacia. He lives in the North Pole. The poles are considered somewhere between Salacia and Dryland - they are neither one nor the other. Speaking of the poles, there is a royal castle, far far away on the other side of the world, in the South Pole. This is where the Penguin Kingdom stands, ruled by its king and queen, who are the parents of little Isa. And Isa? Ah, Isa is a grace. She loves to hug and kiss her friends, she’s super nice, she likes to share things and she’s very smart. But there was one thing that Isa didn’t want to share with anyone - and strangely, her Christmas went well! Part 2 In the classroom, Miss Marla told the class, “Alright, children, classes are ending and Christmas is almost here! It is a time to give, receive and share! Last year, I got a beautiful pair of shoes with a pearl in each of them. This year I’m going to give them away. Who knows, maybe the pearls could become a necklace for someone. How about you - what are you going to do with your gifts from last year?” Ester, out of everyone, began, “Last year, I got a beautiful doll. I played with her a lot and took good care of it so that this year, I could give it to Duda, the baker’s daughter. She was born last year!” “And how old is she?” Mauricio obnoxiously asked. “Um, a year old? Duh!” Tubarina thickly interjected. “Hey, I was just joking, silly!” “Now, now, no fighting, you two. And what about you, Maurico? What did you get last year?” “I got a remote-controlled sea urchin, but I won’t give it to anyone this year!” “Oh, and why is that?” “Because it broke and I can’t fix it!” “Oh, what a pity…” “But my parents are going to buy me a gift to give Juninho, who lives near my house.” “That’s good, Mauricio! Now, Polvina, what gift did you get and what will you do with it?” “Well, I got a whole collection of Super Octopus comics. His movie came out last year and I loved it, so I asked my father to buy the comics for me. I’ve read all of them and I’m going to donate them to the school library this year.” “That’s great, Polvina. That means we’ll all be able to read about the adventures of Super Octopus!” “But Captain Shark’s movie is so much cooler,” said Tubarina. “Well, my father said that movie was too violent for me and that I could only watch it once I’m 10,” said Polvina with a shrug. “What about you, Tubarina?” asked Miss Marla. “I got the Captain Shark movie on DVD, but my mother found it very violent and I only watched it once. So, I’m going to give it to the library and when I’m 10, I’ll get to watch it again! I didn’t quite understand parts of it…” “What an idiot!” laughed Maurico. The teacher was just about to send the Sea Urchin Prince out of the classroom, but Tubarina threw her notebook at him and it landed right in his head. “Hey, I was just joking, you…” “Come on, what’re you going to do now? Next time I’ll throw a chair over your…” “TUBARINA! MAURICO! Behave or you two can go to the office!” Tubarina sat down with a humph. Maurico didn’t like it either, but between us, he was very funny indeed. Now it was Isa’s turn. “And you, Isa?” Sheepishly, she answered, “Er… well, I got this Santa hat that I wear on my crown. But I…” “But what?” Everyone was surprised. “Has it stuck to your crown and won’t come off?” asked Ester. “Is it out of style?” asked Sirilo. “Or you don’t want to give it to anyone?” asked Tubarina, bluntly. “It’s not that, everyone... well… actually… it’s…” Isa didn’t know what to say. “What is it, Isa?” Miss Marla thought it strange that some people didn’t even think about getting rid of their presents at Christmas - it was such a strong tradition in the Kingdom of Salacia, after all. “It’s just… I need it to…” she said with tears in her eyes. Realising that Isa had to have her reasons, Miss Marla did not insist on pressuring her to explain, saying, “Alright, dear. You must have a good reason for this. I’m sure your parents will buy you a gift for you to give someone.” Isa made a sad face. Then the bell rang, and nobody mentioned anything else about it. Part 3 The South Pole is quite a long way from the school. Even though penguins can swim very fast in the water (up to 25 km per hour), it isn’t very often that Isa’s parents can pick her up straight after school. So sometimes, she stays at a friend’s house until after lunchBrazilian school day is different to other countries’ school days, see this link when the penguin carriage arrives. Isa agreed to stay at Polvina’s house that day. Tubarina and Ester went there as well to keep their friend company. During lunch, Tubarina, not even trying to be a little delicate, brought the subject back up. “So, Isa, what’s with the hat? Why do you need it so much?” She then whispered, “I didn’t want to give away my Captain Shark DVD either, but you know what? That movie really sucked…” “Leave her alone, Tubarina!” replied Polvina. “If she doesn’t want to talk about it, then she won’t.” And wasn’t Ester curious about it as well? “Come on, tell us, Isa. We won’t tell anyone!” she said, with a small smile on her face. “Oh girls… it’s just… I can’t take off my Santa hat otherwise I’ll… I’ll…” Even Polvina, who didn’t want to force Isa to talk, caved in to peer pressure. “Otherwise you’ll what?” “Otherwise I’ll… I’ll die!” “DIE?” the three of them exclaimed frighteningly. “Yeah, I’ll drown! I can’t breathe underwater without it.” “Gee…” said Polvina. “Come on, spit it out, girl!” Ester said as if she were about to interrogate Isa. “Well, I’ve never lived underwater. My kingdom isn’t on Salacia, nor on Dryland. It’s between the two in the South Pole, where I live with the penguins and…” “And do penguins only live there?” Ester interrupted. “Let her talk, Ester!” rebuked Polvina. “Yes, but they’re also scattered in the colder regions of the Southern Hemisphere. In the Northern Hemisphere, there are Drylanders who live in the North Pole and they are called eskimos.” “We didn’t know that! You see, that’s why it’s good to ask because we always learn something!” said a smiling Ester. “Okay, now let her talk!” “So, since I was born out of the water, I was too afraid to get into it. My penguin friends are great swimmers and they’ve been doing that their whole life. But I was afraid, very afraid, so I only stayed at the palace with my parents.” “Yes, and what else?” “ESTER!” Polvina and Tubarina were on the verge of having to gag her. “I was dreaming of the day when I would overcome my fear of going into the water, because I wanted to, you know? But every time I got close to the water, my fear would come out of nowhere and I would start to shake and cry. That was until Christmas last year, when my mother gave me an idea.” Isa continued, with a shy smile on her face, “I asked Santa for a gift that would help me overcome my fear of water - a magic potion, a pill, something to help me. So on Christmas Eve, I got this magic little hat. I put it over my crown and, voila! My fear of water was gone. Now, I can swim as fast as the penguins and race with them and I can stay here most of the time.” She looked at her friends sadly. “Do you understand now? That’s why I can’t take my hat off, because if I do, I’ll drown! It has magical powers, alright?” Polvina and Ester were frightened at her story. “Wow, so that’s why you don’t want to give it away… go figure...” It was then that Tubarina ran her hand over Isa’s head and snatched her hat. “What, this thing here? Magic? Let me see!” “TUBARINA!!” cried Polvina. Realising that she was without her little hat, Isa began to panic. She put her hands on her neck, began to kick back and forth, and even knocked over the table. The butler, Aldo, came running because of the noise. “What is going on?” he said distressingly. “Tubarina took Isa’s magic hat and now she’s drowning! Give it back to her, Tubarina! Give it back!” said Polvina, worried for the Penguin Princess. “Let me see it first! Let me see!” said Ester, pulling the hat from Tubarina’s hands so hard that… RIIIIP! … she ripped it, and each of them was left with a piece in their hands. “Whoops! If you put some glue on it, then it should stick back together…” When Isa saw the torn hat, she panicked even more as she began to swallow water and choke. The only thing she would remember after that was Aldo taking her by the arms and saying, “Calm down now. Breathe, Isa, breathe!” Minutes later, Isa woke up in a pink room with octopuses and tentacles everywhere - it was Polvina’s room. “Are you alright, Isa?” Polvina asked her. “You scared us to death, girl!” muttered Tubarina. “I… I… hey, I’m fine! I’m breathing! Am I… alive?” “Of course you are, silly! Look, here’s your hat!” Ester put the now-sewn hat on Isa’s hand. “You see? That hat was just a silly piece of rubbish,” said Tubarina, with her usual delicacy. “It just goes to show that all you needed was a little courage,” said Polvina. “We don’t have to be afraid to be what we are or do what we know how to do!” Isa didn’t know what to say. She looked at her friends and hugged the three of them, crying emotionally, “Thank you, friends! Thank you!” Then, the Penguin King and Queen came to the Octopus Palace. “Isa, are you okay? Aldo called us and… uh, what happened to your hat?” asked the Penguin Queen. “It got torn, Mother, but I’m fine. See, I didn’t need it to stay underwater after all! I just needed a little courage.” The next day, the girls returned to school and Isa told Miss Marla her plans for the little hat. “I’m going to give it to Mr Penpen. He is a very cute penguin who lives in my kingdom. I noticed that my hat caught his eye, so I’ll give it to him as a present.” “Very good, Isa! And what do you want Santa to give you this year?” “Another hat, Miss Marla. The same one as this, not to give me courage, but for me to always remember that I already have it in me.” THE END Merry Christmas to everyone! References and notes